


Strange Relations

by mldrgrl



Category: The X-Files
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Scene Rewrite, Spoilers: Colony
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-18
Updated: 2016-04-18
Packaged: 2018-06-02 22:48:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6585709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mldrgrl/pseuds/mldrgrl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Inspired by Go Fic Yourself segment of TheXOFiles podcast episode of Colony/End Game.  A little rewrite of the scene where Mulder is summoned home to find Samantha waiting.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Strange Relations

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheXOFiles](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=TheXOFiles).



Mulder white-knuckled the steering wheel on the drive to Martha’s Vineyard. He worried his bottom lip with his teeth while Scully simply worried. The last thing he said to her in the elevator on the way to the parking garage was “family emergency” and aside from that, an AM talk radio station filled the silence during the entire nine-hour car ride.

 

It felt like the middle of the night by the time they stopped driving, but it was barely eight o’clock. Her legs and back were sore and cramped and she couldn’t wait to stretch them outside the car. She undid her seatbelt before Mulder did and then hesitated while he stared out the windshield, unmoving. She took a glance at the dimly lit house they were parked in front of and then back to Mulder.

 

“Do you want me to wait here?” she asked.

 

“I don’t know,” he answered. “I don’t know what I’m walking into. I probably shouldn’t have dragged you here.”

 

“I can wait in the car.”

 

“No.” Mulder shook his head and unlatched his seat belt. He got out of the car and Scully followed suit. She followed him, one step behind, up the sloping lawn and up the stairs to the porch.

 

In the darkness, a man spoke and Scully presumed it must be Mulder’s father. “Your mother needs some time,” he said, lighting a cigarette.

 

“You said it was an emergency,” Mulder answered. He moved slowly towards the shadows and Scully lingered at the top of the porch. She saw Mulder open his arms to hug his father, but the older man only offered his hand. She bristled at the rejection and stepped up to Mulder’s side to offer her support.

 

Mulder touched his hand lightly on Scully’s back. “Dad, this is my partner, Dana Scully.”

 

Mr. Mulder responded with a brief hum and he cut his eyes over to Scully, taking a drag off his cigarette. His glance was fleeting and disdainful. Mulder dropped his hand to his side and lowered his head, eyes on the ground. It was disconcerting for Scully to see Mulder so quiet, subdued, chastised.

 

“ _She_ wanted you to come,” Mr. Mulder said. “It’s a difficult time.” He paused to give Scully another disapproving glare. “I appreciate you coming on such short notice.”

 

“What is it, Dad?”

 

Mr. Mulder’s attention drifted towards the picture window at the front of the house. He tapped the ash off his cigarette before taking a long drag, his back to both Mulder and Scully. “The certainty becomes a comfort,” he said. “It allows you to move on. We bury our memories so deep after all that has been destroyed, never expecting…”

 

Scully looked up at Mulder before turning her head to the window as well. She peered through the gauzy curtains at a white-haired older woman, sitting and smiling, holding hands with a younger, dark-haired woman with her back to the window. Her heart sped up a bit, but she wasn’t sure why.

 

“Who’s Mom talking to?” Mulder asked.

 

“Your sister.”

 

Scully nearly gasped. Instinctively, she grabbed Mulder’s arm, staring up at the back of his head. He moved forward and back as though he didn’t know where to go or what to do, towards the window, and then back a few steps. Seconds later, he was headed towards the door and Scully was left on the porch with his father. As the women rose, and Mulder walked into the room, the old man stubbed out his cigarette and disappeared back into the shadows.

 

Turning away from the window, Scully moved to the porch railing and leaned against it, exhaling a shaky breath. Something was very wrong here. The cold reception Mulder received from his father was startling. She never got the sense that he was very close with his parents, but she didn’t expect estrangement. The front door opened and Scully turned around.

 

“Scully?” Mulder said.

 

“Are you okay?” Scully asked.

 

“I’m going to need to stay here for awhile.”

 

“Of course.”

 

“Do you want the keys?” he asked, pulling the car keys from his pocket. “Or…it’s probably too late to drive back.”

 

“The case is still active. I should probably get a flight.”

 

“The case.” Mulder puffed his cheek and blew out a breath, rubbing his forehead. “Come in, I’ll find a phone book.”

 

Mulder led Scully into the house, away from the living area and into the kitchen. She was definitely curious about his mother and the woman who claimed to be his sister, but she took no offense that he avoided any introductions and kept her out of sight. He found a phone book for her and she used the phone on the wall next to the back door to book a flight and call a taxi.

 

Initially, Mulder had left Scully alone in the kitchen, but he returned as she was calling the cab and started making himself busy at the stove. She hung up the phone and sat down at the kitchen table just as he was lighting a burner for a kettle.

 

“Want some tea?” Mulder asked. “I’m making tea for Mom and…Samantha.”

 

“No. I can get on a puddle jumper here in an hour with a connection out of Boston. The taxi will be about fifteen minutes.”

 

Mulder nodded and sat down across from Scully. His shoulders slumped and his chin dropped. In one of the front rooms, the distinct sound of his father’s voice echoed in the kitchen and Mulder sat up straight. Moments later, the old man came into the kitchen, his mouth set in a grim line.

 

“Fox,” he said.

 

“I’m making tea for Mom and Samantha,” Mulder answered. “Scully has a taxi on the way for the airport.”

 

The man grunted once and turned away.

 

“Did you want any tea, Dad?”

 

“No.”

 

Mulder stayed ramrod straight after his father left, staring vacantly at the empty doorway. Scully watched him, feeling a mixture of anger and sympathy. The brief encounters with Mr. Mulder, even under this unordinary circumstance, gave her some insight into why she’d once describe her partner as needy and child-like. It was obvious he’d been quite starved for kindness and affection. If she had to guess, given the little joy that existed in this unexpected family reunion, this dynamic existed long before Samantha had gone missing.

 

Scully reached into the inside pocket of her overcoat and pulled out the small notebook she kept there along with her pen. She flipped to a blank page and wrote on it before sliding both across the table to Mulder.

 

_Do you want to talk about it?_

Mulder picked up the pen, held it for several moments and then wrote “no” under her question. He dropped the pen on the table, but kept his hand on the notebook. A minute passed, seconds softly ticking by from a clock on the wall behind Scully. He picked up the pen again and scribbled quickly, pushing the notebook back towards her.

 

_I don’t know what I feel._

 

Silently, they traded the notebook and pen back and forth.

 

_I don’t think there’s a normal way to feel about this._

 

_I’m having a hard time believing it’s real._

 

_You’re probably in shock._

_That’s not it._

_You think it’s not really her?_

_I don’t know. I always thought I would see her, and I would know. But, I don’t know._

_We’ll get to the bottom of it._

_I’m sorry about my dad._

_I am too._

_Why?_

The tea kettle began to whistle and Mulder got up to turn the stove off, leaving the question hanging. She was sorry he felt the need to apologize on behalf of a man that didn’t seem to deserve the courtesy, but she said nothing. Instead, she tucked the notebook and pen back in her pocket and stood.

 

“I should wait outside for the cab.”

 

“Can you tell Skinner…”

 

“I’ll tell him you had a family emergency.”

 

“Where will you be?”

 

“I’m going to follow up with that address we got for the doctor. I’ll keep you posted.”

 

“Be careful.”

 

“You too.” Impulsively, Scully walked up to Mulder and put her arms around him, sliding her hands up his back to curve around his shoulders. She felt him tense up for a moment, but then his body relaxed and he rested his cheek on her head. His hands rested very lightly on her hips at first, slowly moving around her waist until his arms locked together across her back. It lasted only a few seconds, and then his arms loosened, as well as hers. She took a step back and he leaned against the stove.

 

“Call me if you need me,” she said.

 

“You too.”

 

Only minutes later, Scully was in the back of a taxi, the porch light of the Mulder house a speck in the distance, and she remembered that Mulder’s phone was broken and she had no way of contacting him. She wished she’d thought to ask what the number was for his father’s home, but then again, it wasn’t a place she really wanted to call. And now she could see why Mulder stayed away so long.

 

The End


End file.
